My Gateway won't drive my TV with the VGA port. My other three laptops do automatically. All I get is a "does not support" message on my TV.

either way hdmi will be the easiest otherwise u have to buy a new cable for vga and go hdmi on tv

There should be 2 small nuts holding the connector in place these are also used to secure the external monitor VGA connector to the computer. You can get them from a computer shop.

To me this is a hardware problem.

Let's diagnose, and see Shunka_Reid.
Connect a VGA monitor to the laptop.

A) Laptop OFF, monitor OFF, connect a VGA monitor to the VGA port, on the laptop.

http://support.gateway.com/s/notebook/2009/gateway/nv/NV78/NV78lv.shtml

Number 3 - External VGA display port

General example of VGA connector (port), and VGA cable,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_Connector

Scroll down a little for the VGA cable example.

You can use a CRT type of monitor, (Looks like a small TV), or a flat LCD screen monitor if it has a VGA cable.
General example of a CRT type of monitor,

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-crt-monitor.htm

B) Turn the monitor on. If a CRT type allow it to warm up.
Turn the laptop on.
By factory default settings, the display should show on the external VGA monitor.

IF not;
There are at least 3 display options available;
1) Internal monitor of laptop ONLY
2) Internal monitor of laptop AND external VGA monitor.
3) External VGA monitor ONLY.

Press, and hold the Fn key down, and at the SAME time tap once on the F4 key.
The F4 key is the Display Toggle-Over key.

Still no?
Hold the Fn key down again, and tap on the F4 key once more.

Do you get a good display on the external VGA monitor?
Post back in a Comment.

Also, has the laptop ever been cleaned on the Inside, to your knowledge?

Regards,
joecoolvette

If Your TV and Laptop have HDMI Port then you just need a HDMI Cable.
But if you dont have HDMI port. then you need two cables one from video and one for audio.
For Video you either VGA Cable(if you have VGA Port in your TV) or VGA to RCA Cable (Yellow Pin will be for video)
For audio You Need 3.5mm pin to RCA (white and Red for audio).
This pic is of VGA to RCA Cable

Hi

If you want to connect your TV with laptop then you just check your TV or LCD have a VGA port. if there then take one VGA cable and connect your TV(LCD) and other end connect your Laptop VGA port automatically you get the video in your TV(LCD)


If my solution fix your problem give the Thumbs

Hi,
Your Sony vaio does not have any TV-out port to output the display on any analog TV. You can use your VGA (by using VGA cable) port to output your laptop on LCD / Plasma / LED TV (with a VGA port also)). If you still want to project to analog TV via the VGA port, you need to find a VGA to RGB adaptor. But bare in mind, it's hard to find one.
VGA port is like the port on computer monitor. RBG consist of three colored port.
Good luck ;)

The first step is to inspect both your laptop and TV and identify the connections, easily located on the back of either component. There are five basic types of jacks, or ports involved:
*Composite/phono plug (RCA)
*S-Video
*Video graphics array (VGA)
*Digital video interface (DVI)
*High-definition multimedia interface (HDMI)
*An RCA connector, sometimes called a phono connector, is used for analog audio and video components. Three round, colored sockets are standard — left audio is white, right audio is red, and composite video is yellow. These are standard jacks on older TV’s and laptops. A three-prong cable, readily available at any computer or electronics, is the easiest way to make an RCA laptop to TV connection.
*S-Video, or Super-Video, a more advanced analog video connector, uses a four-prong round plug, like those used in TV cable installations. Separate audio cables are the same as for the RCA connector, left audio/white, and right audio/red. S-Video is commonly found on older TV sets and some laptops.
With S-Video on both TV and laptop, connecting a laptop to a TV is a simple matter of a single S-Video cable. If your laptop has a great sound system, you won’t need audio cables, but for better quality you’ll also want audio cables.
RCA to S-Video cable, a special laptop to TV cable, is available when you have RCA jacks on one device and an S-Video port on the other.
*A VGA connector and cable are used to carry analog video signals plus display and graphics data. The VGA is a 15-pin connector commonly found on laptops and other devices. With this port you need a PC-to-TV Convertor to connect laptop to TV. You simply plug the VGA cable from the source into the convertor, and use an S-Video or RCA cable out to the TV. The converter is USB powered, so there’s no external power adapter to carry around, making this laptop to TV connection entirely portable.
*A DVI port is rectangular with 24 pins arranged in three horizontal rows of eight pins for digital video; separate RCA analog audio cables fit into white and red plugs. DVI ports are found on Macintosh laptops; sometimes they are smaller than normal DVI ports and require an adapter, which usually comes with the laptop.
*The HDMI port, one-half the size of the DVI port, is also rectangular with 19 pins. It provides digital audio in addition to digital video, despite it’s smaller size, for a complete TV to laptop connection. These ports are found on new HDTVs, and sometimes there are two or more. TVs with HDMI ports are the only ones that do not require additional audio cables.
TV’s with a single digital port labeled HDMI/DVI require only one cable when the source is another HDMI component. But when source is a DVI laptop, you need a DVI-to-HDMI cable for the video and a separate pair of RCA analog stereo cables.
NOTE: Whenever ports do not match, you can by adaptors and/or cables to make any connection.

NEED MOre HELP check this link for video :

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-connect-your-laptoppccomputer-to-your-tv/

Hi:
Just plugging in the monitor to your VGA port on the laptop won't make it display. You have to toggle to the exteral display, or both. Usually you have to hold down your function key, and then hit the external display key. It could be F1 thru F8, depending on your laptop model. Mine is F6. If you toggle thru the modes, your CRT should display . The missing pin is no concern!

The first step is to inspect both your laptop and TV and identify the connections, easily located on the back of either component. There are five basic types of jacks, or ports involved:
*Composite/phono plug (RCA)
*S-Video
*Video graphics array (VGA)
*Digital video interface (DVI)
*High-definition multimedia interface (HDMI)
*An RCA connector, sometimes called a phono connector, is used for analog audio and video components. Three round, colored sockets are standard — left audio is white, right audio is red, and composite video is yellow. These are standard jacks on older TV’s and laptops. A three-prong cable, readily available at any computer or electronics, is the easiest way to make an RCA laptop to TV connection.
*S-Video, or Super-Video, a more advanced analog video connector, uses a four-prong round plug, like those used in TV cable installations. Separate audio cables are the same as for the RCA connector, left audio/white, and right audio/red. S-Video is commonly found on older TV sets and some laptops.
With S-Video on both TV and laptop, connecting a laptop to a TV is a simple matter of a single S-Video cable. If your laptop has a great sound system, you won’t need audio cables, but for better quality you’ll also want audio cables.
RCA to S-Video cable, a special laptop to TV cable, is available when you have RCA jacks on one device and an S-Video port on the other.
*A VGA connector and cable are used to carry analog video signals plus display and graphics data. The VGA is a 15-pin connector commonly found on laptops and other devices. With this port you need a PC-to-TV Convertor to connect laptop to TV. You simply plug the VGA cable from the source into the convertor, and use an S-Video or RCA cable out to the TV. The converter is USB powered, so there’s no external power adapter to carry around, making this laptop to TV connection entirely portable.
*A DVI port is rectangular with 24 pins arranged in three horizontal rows of eight pins for digital video; separate RCA analog audio cables fit into white and red plugs. DVI ports are found on Macintosh laptops; sometimes they are smaller than normal DVI ports and require an adapter, which usually comes with the laptop.
*The HDMI port, one-half the size of the DVI port, is also rectangular with 19 pins. It provides digital audio in addition to digital video, despite it’s smaller size, for a complete TV to laptop connection. These ports are found on new HDTVs, and sometimes there are two or more. TVs with HDMI ports are the only ones that do not require additional audio cables.
TV’s with a single digital port labeled HDMI/DVI require only one cable when the source is another HDMI component. But when source is a DVI laptop, you need a DVI-to-HDMI cable for the video and a separate pair of RCA analog stereo cables.
NOTE: Whenever ports do not match, you can by adaptors and/or cables to make any connection.

Hi,
You need s-video cable or VGA cable (if VGA ports are available on your laptop and TV) to connect your laptop to the tv.Connect the one end of your cable to your laptop port and another end to the tv port.and then set your tv to s-video mode.


Thanks